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Women’s Lacrosse: Foote kicks off 10-1 start, tied for best in school history

Jay Fitzpatrick | Thursday, April 6, 2006

Notre Dame attack Christi Foote’s four goals led the No. 10 Irish (10-1) to their third win in a row Wednesday 13-6 against Ohio State (1-9) in Columbus – the team’s best start in school history.Foote led all scorers in the game. Her four goals gave her 132 goals for her Notre Dame career – moving past Danielle Shearer on the career-goal list. Foote’s 188 career points are also best for second all-time for the Irish behind Danielle Shearer (196). Foote now has 45 goals for the season with five games remaining, giving her time to pass Lael O’Shaughnessy’s single-season record (50).Notre Dame midfielder Mary Carpenter and attack Heather Ferguson each scored two goals in the win. Freshman attack Jill Byers was shut out by the Buckeye’s defense, but led the Irish with three assists.Notre Dame played strong throughout the game, limiting Ohio State’s scoring opportunities while capitalizing on its own – especially in the first half. The Irish were able to get more ground balls and draws while committing fewer turnovers than the Buckeyes.The Irish’s ability to keep possession of the ball while keeping it out of the Buck-eye’s sticks was crucial to the early Notre Dame, who started the game with four unanswered goals by freshman midfielder Jane Stoeckert, sophomore midfielder Caitlin McKinney and two by Foote. The Irish took a 9-2 lead into the half and held it for the entire game.”What we worked on in practice came out really well in the game, especially in the first half,” Irish coach Tracy Coyne said. “Our execution in general was very good.”But Foote said the win against Ohio State game was a tale of two halves, with Notre Dame’s performance faltering in the second half. The Irish let in four goals while scoring only four after the break.”We definitely did not play as well in the second half as we did in the first,” Foote said. “We need to be able to play consistently well for all sixty minutes.”Coyne was also very impressed with her team’s ability to take what they had worked on this week in practice and use it in game situations, something they focused on this spring.”We have been focused and committed all season long, and plan to stay that way,” Coyne said. “We have been having very competitive practices that we can bring to the field.”Despite a mediocre performance in the second half, the Irish still managed to win a hard-fought game against one of their big rivals.”I am definitely happy to get out of there with win,” Coyne said after the game. “[Ohio State] had everything to gain and nothing to lose, but now we can move on and focus on the games ahead of us.”Notre Dame’s road trip will continue with a trip to Durham to face No. 2 Duke this weekend.